Saturday, December 2, 2017

LITURGICAL YEAR -- 1

+ Welcome to an experiment in creating new liturgy for The New Faith for the New Earth. I hope this becomes a community of people committed to InterSpirituality who want to honor great traitions which continue to work for us but also create new ones for an evolving humanity. I have been a Presbyterian all my life, soon 71 years. I became a Minister of the Word of the Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) on June 1, 1975. It was an exciting time to be involved in a new liturgical direction for Presbyterians. We joined with other denominations including Roman Catholics to create liturgy which we could all share. Now, it seems to me and others, is the time to go beyond the confines of the church to The New Faith for the New Earth. Since the liturgical year for Christians is a powerful tool for ongoing spiritual transformation, I will be using the plentiful resources of this tradition which goes back at least 1500 years. Support for the liturgical year has gained momentum in recent years as Protestants and Catholics have been finding ways to renew this powerful tradition. Now can we add Jewish prayers, Muslim prayers, Hindu prayers, Buddhist prayers and many more prayers, rituals and beliefs? I hope we can join together in doing so because the planet needs InterSpiritual liturgy as a way forward to build more compassion, peace, justice and shared and sustainable abundance.The traditional liturgical year begins with Advent on the Sunday nearest November 30. In coming posts I will offer Advent themes, prayers, rituals which Christians have been sharing for centuries. But I also hope to discover ways and even create ways for this first season of the liturgical year to become InterSpiritual. Let us do this for the entire Liturgical Year which includes some very
familiar holy days and holy seasons but also some less familiar holy days and holy
seasons.We can even create new ones but
let us honor tried and true beliefs and practices from all of our wisdom traditions which continue to inspire us
and transform us into a more compassionate humanity.Do you have some ideas for creating InterSpiritual liturgy based on the holy seasons and holy days of Christianity or other wisdom traditions? I invite you to share them here or on the Abundancetrek Facebook page or by email: john@abundanctrek.com